Erica Hijazi constructed a bow from a 1939 Willamette College newspaper she unearthed while picking up a VCR purchased on Craigslist. Hijazi and her date, Frank DeFrancesco—who wore a tie constructed from the same newspaper—took home the Costume Contest’s grand prize for Best Text.

( L ) Mark Anen shows off his G-Man costume ( it means a Government Man). Though, based on his bling, this could stand for Gangster Man.
( R ) Size does matter: Melanie and Luke Rolka in matching A Cup and D Cup costumes. Luke won Best Use of Type in the Text Ball costume contest.

Viva Las Vegas, Text Ball’s hostess, shows off her “God Says” T-shirt, which she made for Easter Sunday when she was 23. We’re not allowed tell you what the rest of the T-shirt says. Viva’s reading from hew new book, The Gospel According to Viva Las Vegas raised about $100 for the IPRC, as she cheekily stopped at opportune moments to pass a hat around.

Chris McCrew and IPRC staff member Lillian Karabaic work out a crossword puzzle. Karabaic jokingly described Text Ball as “getting a bunch of socially awkward people together and making them interact.” She added, “We found out a long time ago that wordcrosses are the only way to get people to talk to each other.”

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Slide Show: Text Appeal

Posted Oct 20, 2010, 12:00pm

This year marked the 5th annual Text Ball, organized by the Independent Publishing Resource Center and an integral part of the Wordstock festival. This year’s theme, "Text Appeal," inspired a variety of alluring costumes—all home-made—ranging from clothing and accessories made from newsprint and book pages (including fiery Dante’s Inferno), to punny getups focusing on letters, phrases, and book titles. Watch the slideshow for mo...